There is a growing need for providing a tidy sanitary toothbrush enclosure. One type of toothbrush enclosure provides tidiness by affixing a toothbrush enclosure to a wall. In this regard, a number of attempts have been made for storing conventional toothbrushes.
WO 1998/35585A1 describes a toothbrush rack generally having three parts: back plate for affixing the rack to a wall, a holder for engaging a toothbrush head from the sides and a shell to provide an enclosure. The toothbrush is secured in the rack by three point retention between fingers of the holder and prevented from rotating by resting on the back plate. Unfortunately such racks are less sanitary than desired because the back plate which touches the toothbrush cannot be readily removed for cleaning. Also more modern toothbrush designs incorporating soft materials tend to get lodged in which requires disassembly of the rack for removal of the toothbrush.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,238 describes a two part enclosure. A box includes: a back plate for mounting to a wall, side panels and a bottom opening into which a toothbrush handle is inserted. A wedge shaped lid is hinged to the side walls such that its center of gravity causes the lid to rest on the box. Unfortunately, increased dexterity is required to feed the toothbrush handle through the bottom opening from the top. Not all toothbrush handles can be accommodated by a single bottom opening design. As above, the toothbrush rests against the box which is not readily removable from the wall for cleaning therefore resulting in a less than sanitary solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,107 describes a snap cap enclosure having a back, sides and top walls, a bottom slot and a hinged door. A toothbrush neck is engaged in the slot. While the entire snap cap enclosure is removable from a plate attached to the wall, the toothbrush head can freely touch the inside of the snap cap enclosure requiring very frequent cleaning thereof. Also repeated snap action tends to wear the parts out very fast making this proposal impractical.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,743 describes a similar enclosure as the snap cap above made from a single molded piece lodged in a wall bracket. The enclosure has a back part with a back wall and a slotted bottom wall, a cover part having top, front, side and partial bottom walls and hinge integral to the back and cover part. The slot is shaped to hold a toothbrush by its neck with the partial bottom wall impinging the toothbrush into the slot. While the enclosure can be made large enough for a toothbrush head to be prevented from touching the top, side, back and front walls, the toothbrush bristles rest on the partial bottom wall therefore requiring frequent cleaning. As well, the shaped slot limits compatibility with toothbrush shapes.
GB 1,061,092 and EP 90 10 3657 describe toothbrush enclosures configured to directly engage the resilient bristles of a toothbrush as a means to retain the toothbrush therein. Unfortunately, such enclosures require cleaning with every use.